The Other Way Around
by Valkyrie Elysia
Summary: Tea reevaluates her feelings for Yami and Yugi. Why did things have to be so complicated? It is it really one way or the other?


**V.E.: This unusual since this is the first time I'm doing something with Tea and Yugi. Still I felt like I should explore Tea's feelings. Oh Yami/Atem, I feel really sorry for you. Being between two people you care about. Yes there is some mention to it, but I really don't ship that pairing.**

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Tea wasn't sure what name to put to it.

By it, she was referring to her and Yugi's relationship.

For many years, Yugi had been her best friend. Being a tomboy, she didn't necessarily fit in with the girls in her class. Young girls liked pink, sparkles and princesses; she liked dancing true but also liked sports more than her peers. That all changed when she came across Yugi on the playground playing his bulky Gameboy. She still remembered the shy smile in which he offered it to her, only to watch her break it because she became frustrated with it.

But he didn't get mad at all and the next day he brought a much easier game.

After that, the two of them became the most unlikely duo. For some reason, the two opposites became as close as glue. Her memories of those early days involved sharing lunch and hanging out in his grandfather's game shop.

That was when she was his only friend. Now Yugi had a bunch of other friends; Joey, Tristan, Duke, Bakura, Marik, and even Seto(though he wouldn't have admitted it on pain of death).

And then there was Yami. One thing that upset their friendship like a magically induced hurricane through Domino City.

Before any of these Shadow Games happened, she was well aware of the gossip around the school that she and Yugi were going out. When she heard it, she felt like laughing. Yugi was her friend, practically her little brother. Truthfully, she never considered him as someone she would go out with.

She never told it to Yugi, she knew it just would have made things awkward. No need to upset the balance the two had built over the years.

Of course there were times Yugi had acted a little strange. Almost as if he did like her. But Tea immediately brushed these actions off. She tried to tell herself that she was imagining them, reading more into it than what it was.

There was line, she was not going to cross it. It wasn't so much as driven by friendship as the fear of what would happen if she did cross it. A fear to acknowledge it.

But then the Pharaoh came into their lives.

Tea wouldn't deny that she liked him, still held a fondness for him. He saved her, she would always be grateful for that. Maybe the reason she was attracted to him because he was everything that Yugi was not.

Yugi was the kind gentle 'next door neighbor' material. Not exactly inspiring the romantic fantasies of any teenager. Yami/Atem on the other hand, was the essentially mysterious, intriguing and handsome. Tea was certain any girl would have fallen for him had they been in Tea's shoes.

At the same time while she did have feelings, there was also the knowledge that nothing would come out of it. He was dead, he was meant to move. That didn't stop her heart from his departure to the afterlife.

To which, he left her with a somewhat strained relationship with her best friend. It wasn't his fault or her fault, but there was certainly some guilt on her mind about it.

What bothered her was that there was some definite times when Yugi was in control of the body they shared, when Tea was attracted to him. And that puzzled her, she was so sure she liked Atem.

On closer examination, she figured maybe it was because Yugi and Atem were so connected that those feelings stemmed from the attachment. Whatever slightly romantic notions she felt for Yugi was because of the Pharaoh. And she definitely wasn't going to bring these thoughts up to Yugi.

If that was case, why did she feel those emotions more acutely now that the Pharaoh was gone?

This was one puzzle that she couldn't put together, something that she felt she didn't have all the pieces to. So she often sat up the night pondering this turn of events for her. Despite her preparing for dancing in America, she still had to cram for her classes. She wanted to graduate.

It was during such night, a thought came across her mind. Something that was so contradictory to what she had always thought to be right.

_What if it's the other way around?_

She felt herself annoyed by the comment. What was that supposed to mean? She never thought of Yugi that way before Atem came into their lives.

But after a while of pondering about, she realized there might be something to that statement.

Atem took upon most of Yugi's characteristics when he took over. Aside from being slightly taller and the blonde spikes that were styled like a crown; there wasn't much difference. As a matter of fact, Yugi was slowly catching up to his darker half since he had been gone.

He and Yugi shared a body, and, by extension, shared friends. Though their personalities were nothing alike, both of them slowly adopted the other's traits.

And the fact had been that there were some times before Atem she had felt incredibly close to Yugi. She had always put that down to them being childhood friends, but maybe there was something more to it.

So what if it was true? What if her feelings for Yami/Atem sprang from some latent feelings for Yugi instead of the other way around like she had always supposed it to be? That they only needed something to emerge?

Because as she stared up at the ceiling with her cheeks blushing crimson, she couldn't deny there were some feelings stronger than friendship for Yugi.

Friends don't glare at Blonde Americans hugging said friend and proclaiming him her boyfriend. Friends don't get jealous that if a friend lost a duel, he'd have to be some crazy fan's love slave.

And Friends do not look to being separated from their friend with at least two oceans between them, with a feeling of sinking and such heart ache.

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**V.E.: Short I know. The idea just came to me.**

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